Storytime...

     We were careful emerging from the winding stairway in case any guards had been brought in by the distress call the guard had partially sent out. UOPETA was still a little hesitant as he had assumed - and still did assume - that there was more than one guard. We had only seen one, and after destroying the portals, we had checked the far wall to determine whether we could progress any further. Unable to find any more levers or ways through, we left the corridors for the surface. Once at the top, UOPETA bent down and flicked the switch in the small niche, and the wall slid back into place, blocking the way through. With that done, we set out towards the West, back to the boat. Thankfully it was a short journey, so we were highly unlikely to stumble across any guards at this late stage. Once we reached the boat, we pushed it back into the water, and I steadied it with UOPETA as THEROS climbed into the rowing seat. We then climbed aboard in either side of the front, and I took charge of the map. Looking at it, and tracing the route with my finger, I plotted where we were going, with my finger finally resting on the North Western side of my wall.

"Where are we off to now then?"

I showed UOPETA the map, still pointing to where my house stood, and he just sat there in silence.

"Look, Syeonyx... I know it's hard. We've all lost our livelihoods to HoN Co. ... We were all miners at some stage too! We all found it hard, but we got over it eventually, and you will too... It just takes some time... You have to let go."

UOPETA was right... I was moping about a house for god's sake! Mere wooden planks, nails and a few panes of glass! Although I had put so much effort into setting up there, and I hadn't been there long until thing started to go wrong... I barely even managed to set up any mining, before I started getting the feeling there was something HoN Co. hadn't told me... But instead of dwelling on that, my mind was more drawn to the statement UOPETA had made about everyone owning a place of their own; hand built and totally self sufficient... It had never occurred to me ask them what they had lived in or where, but obviously they did as they were miners! I asked UOPETA, and he smiled...

"I wasn't very good at settling down... I had a small location established in the base of a cliff... My base of operations... I was rarely there though. I used to be constantly on the move, looking for caverns to explore. I always figured it's easier to mine the precious metals and ores if the hole's been pre-dug out for you by nature... Worked most of the time, and at the end of each day, I'd return with large amounts of iron... Spent the night smelting it, refining it from impurities etc... I had a sweet setup..."

There was silence for a few moments, and then THEROS told us of his arrangement.

"I was a person who didn't like to move around too much... It's lucky I settled near an area with a huge cliff! Set up my house on top of it, had a small mine beneath it going through the main cliff, and into the ground at sea level... I'd alternate days though; one day I'd be mining, the next, I'd be looking out across the view, mapping out the area below and beyond me. It was beautiful... Then I found a portal... My life was turned upside down on that day... I called it in, informing HoN Co. of this find, and when they arrived, they treated it with suspicion. I thought I would be sent back home until it was dealt with, but instead they were going to take me to some tower... I can only assume they meant HoN Co. tower. I escaped before they could, and used my maps to hide. It wasn't long until I was found by COLUS. He could relate to my situation and suggested I join him. I was a little confused at the beginning as he seemed to have this deep hatred for HoN Co. and wanted rid of them, without ever really explaining why..."

I asked UOPETA about how he had come to be part of the Lone 7...

"Similar to THEROS's story... I didn't find a portal, but I stumbled across a few scientists and, what I now know to be, HoN Co. guards who were experimenting with a strange purple object. They saw me, and captured me after forcing me deep underground. They actually took me to the tower, but I managed to escape pretty quickly. The rest, as they say, is history..."

We all sat in silence for some time, not daring to say anything... I had been so selfish... Never had it occurred to me that the others would have gone through similar ordeals... They were part of the Lone 7 though, so something had obviously happened to them...

"That story is pretty much the same for all of us... All except COLUS. No-one knows how he came to lose faith in HoN Co. ... He founded the Lone 7 right from the beginning, although the name kept changing to accommodate the number of us at the time. One by one, we joined him, and we gained strength, as more of us were able to apply a greater range of skills to topple HoN Co. ... Most of our efforts have been aimed at understanding what HoN Co. wishes to do with these portals. It is only recently that we have learned of their true intent... If what HoN Co. is intending to do with them is true, they cannot be allowed to succeed..."

There was silence once more, and nothing was said again until we reached the small beach close to my wall. The lights of the brightly lit interior emanating from over the tops of the wall...

     After ensuring there were no guards within sight, we removed the torches from the ends of the boat, and dragged it onto the land. It had started to get dark by this point, but luckily we could still see... Ahead of us lay the North Western corner of my wall, where a tower stood, overlooking the small beach area. Luckily, there was no-one atop it, so we were able to move around without fear of being seen.

"Right then. We can't just burst straight into the entrance because there are automated gates on both sides, which can only be open from inside... That leaves one of two options. Go around the front and try to find that tunnel that lead under the wall, or, head all the way to the East and hope to find that large hole again. Remember? The one with the portal in the chamber that collapsed, separating us? If we can still get into it, it might be worth a shot. That way, we would emerge well within the walls..."

"I vote for the first option..."

I agreed with THEROS. It was safer, and I didn't want to go anywhere near that tunnel again!

"If that's the case, I want to see what we're dealing with. We need to get a better look, so let's move to an elevated position..."

We moved off the sand bank which joined to a small grassy hill, to enable us to get a better look over the wall... All we could see at the moment was a mass amount of light creeping across, but as far as guard detail and security, we were in the dark...

Syeonyx signing off